In recent years, advances have enabled aerial vehicles, such as multi-rotor unmanned aerial systems (MUAS) to navigate complex spaces under an operator's control. But the maneuverability of MUAS comes at a great cost in power consumption. An unmanned aerial system (UAS), which may include multiple rotors, or other source of lift, are typically limited in operational endurance by on-board energy storage.
Numerous approaches to extending operational endurance focus on the energy storage, conversion, or power transmission. In embodiments of the present disclosure we describe a method of maneuvering a power and data line using an aerial vehicle system, which may include one or more accessory MUAS's. The method has advantages of economy, safety, and efficacy over previously described approaches. The power and data line may be provided by a tether and/or tether segments. The system may leverage a wide-bandwidth optical communication along the tether and/or tether segments to create a low-latency control system, which may be distributed between the ground and air units. The situations in which the system may be used include those requiring payloads with longer operational times, greater power consumption, and/or greater data production rates than current MUAS platforms.
The system permits the precise positioning of a detector and/or other tools within a large obstructed volume or air space. Embodiments where the system includes a plurality of unmanned aerial systems linked together along a tether may form a physical data network along with a power transmission line, terminated at a ground station at one end, and terminated at a primary data collection UAS at the other end. One or more intermediate UAS(s) may receive power and transmit and/or receive data and cooperate to avoid obstacles and accomplish a flight plan of the primary UAS. The present disclosure addresses multi-body aerial systems, their power systems, flight control architecture, and commercial applications.